Jan. 13 Commissioners' Meeting Update

News Release # 2026-006

Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, Commissioners were briefed on a proposed bill regarding a potential Office of the Inspector General in Charles County. County Attorney Wes Adams briefed Commissioners presented an overview of it.

The proposed bill outlines the structure independence of the Office of the Inspector General, including the jurisdiction and scope of its authority. It also includes whistleblower protections and a mechanism for commissioner removal from office if an inspector general recommends it. In addition, the bill establishes a double-blind selection process to nominate individuals of a citizens advisory board, along with other provisions.

Commissioners plan to continue discussion of the proposed bill during a future work session on February 3.

Briefings

• Sarah Guy, chief of property acquisition, and Marc Potter, associate county attorney, presented a briefing on Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) #25-188 Proposed Encroachment Text Amendment. The amendment would provide Charles County Government with the authority and the framework to regulate encroachments onto certain properties owned by Charles County Government. Staff presented an updated bill to address the Planning Commission's concerns regarding the proposed bill, including the limitation on fines and equitable implementation of remediation.

Jason Groth, director of Planning and Growth Management, outlined several options for commissioners, including sending the amended text amendment back to the Planning Commission, rewriting the zoning text amendment to incorporate the proposed changes, or moving forward with the updated bill without additional Planning Commission review. Commissioners reached a consensus to send the amended zoning text amendment back to the Planning Commission.

• Promotional Pay Increase Committee Members held a briefing on the Promotional Pay Increase Policy for Charles County Government. The briefing provided an overview of the Committee's proposed changes to address concerns about the salary increases that employees are eligible to receive when being promoted through a competitive recruitment process.

The Committee made the following recommendations:

1. Keep the current midpoint scale currently used by the county.
2. Change the standard promotion percentage increase to correlate to the actual grade growth percentage increase(s).
3. Add the ability for employees to negotiate their salary during a promotion via a recruitment process.
4. Add approval layers for internal negotiations.

The new policy will be presented to staff on Jan. 21, with implementation in the revised Personnel Policies and Procedures manual.

Approval Items

Commissioners approved:

• A letter to Governor Wes Moore (D) outlining the county's priorities in the state's Fiscal Year 2027 budget.
• A letter to the Maryland Stadium Authority regarding the Waldorf Sports and Wellness Center.

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